Project Titan won't be a subscription-based MMORPG

The franchise future

Blizzard is deciding on a new direction for Project Titan, but president Mike Morhaime locked down one detail on the nebulous game: it's unlikely to be a subscription-based MMO. Morhaime addressed Blizzard's uncharacteristically diverse slate of upcoming titles in an Activision Blizzard conference call with investors.

World of Warcraft continues to leak subscribers worldwide, albeit at a slower pace. Morhaime said the world's largest subscription-based MMORPG stood at 7.7 million players as of June 31; the 600,000 player loss was split evenly between Eastern and Western consumers.

In other projects, Blizzard All-Stars has reached a significant internal milestone, Morhaime said, and more news will come later this year after a long period of radio silence. On top of that, external testing for Warcraft-themed card battler Hearthstone very soon--Morhaime noted this will be the first time Blizzard has announced and shipped a new title in the same year.

The rest of Activision is remaining cautious about the upcoming year. CEO Bobby Kotick said it may be particularly challenging, as several titles that compete with Activision's strongest franchises--like Battlefield 4 and Disney Infinity--are set to launch alongside them. That said, retailers have reserved 20 percent more shelf space Skylanders Swap Force than they did for Skylanders Giants, so it looks like the figurine based franchise is set for a third round of Christmas hysteria.

Activision Blizzard pulled in $1.05 billion in net revenues from April through June quarter compared to $1.08 billion in the same period last year. Its net income totaled $324 million, compared to $185 million last year.